St. Paul Robbery Suspect Arrested After Pursuit Ends With Crash In Minneapolis
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) - Negotiations finished Wednesday evening after a police pursuit of a robbery suspect in St. Paul ended with a crash in Minneapolis.
St. Paul police were called at around noon to the Beyond & Tobacco Store on the 800 block of Arcade Street for an aggravated and armed robbery. A victim told dispatchers that a male suspect robbed the store and threatened an employee with a handgun.
When police arrived on the scene, they attempted to pull over the suspect's vehicle but ended up in a car pursuit which led them westbound on Interstate 94 into Minneapolis. The suspect eventually crashed his vehicle after hitting stop sticks and disabling a wheel near the 2900 block of Newton Avenue N.
The suspect refused to leave his vehicle Wednesday afternoon and a Hennepin County negotiator was called to the scene. Minneapolis police and the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office handled the incident, St. Paul police said.
Officers continued to give commands to come out of the vehicle while the suspect refused and made various threats against officers. Police believed the suspect was armed and asked people to stay away from the area of 29th and Newton while the process took place.
The suspect finally agreed to cooperate after four hours of Negotiations with MPD using de-escalation tactics.
"This was the best-case scenario for an incident such as this. We had time to deescalate, slow things down, and be able to deal with this in a manner that builds trust and lent us the ability to take him into custody safely," said MPD spokesperson John Elder.
The suspect was transported to a local hospital and treated for minor injuries from the crash. Elder said the SPPD will be handling the investigation of the incidents in both cities.
